After Only 12 Months, Another U.S. Cyber-chief Resigns

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Rod Beckstrom is the latest national cyber-security director to bail, complaining in his resignation letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano of erratic funding and that the National Security Agency unfairly dominates cyber-policy. Former heads of the U.S. National Cyber Security Center include Greg Garcia, Howard Schmidt, Richard Clarke and Amit Yoran.

Complaining that the National Security Agency exerts too much influence on
national cyber-security policy, Rod Beckstrom, head of the U.S. National Cyber
Security Center, resigned March 6. Beckstrom, a Silicon Valley
entrepreneur, follows a line of national cyber-security chiefs with short
tenures.

"NSA currently dominates most national cyber-efforts. While acknowledging
the critical importance of NSA to our intelligence efforts, I believe this is a
bad strategy on multiple grounds," Beckstrom wrote to DHS Secretary Janet
Napolitano the day before his resignation.

Beckstrom said in his letter to Napolitano that during his one-year tenure he
had been unwilling to "subjugate the NCSC underneath the NSA. Instead we
advocated a model where there is credible civilian government cyber-security
which interfaces with, but is not controlled by, the NSA."

Beckstrom further complained that the Bush administration failed to adequately
fund the NCSC, providing funding for only five weeks of operation during the
past year.

Greg Garcia, Howard Schmidt, Richard Clarke and Amit Yoran are among the
cyber-security chiefs who have passed through the government's revolving door.

Hathaway was also named a senior director at the
National Security Council and numerous media accounts have mentioned her as a
top candidate to serve as Obama's cyber-security chief. A former Booz Allen
consultant, Hathaway led a group that developed Bush's National Cyber Security
Initiative.

Phil Lieberman, CEO of
Lieberman Software and a 30-year player in the cyber-security field, praised
Obama's decision to review the government's cyber-security efforts.

"It is a great idea. The United States has no coordinated cyber-warfare policy," Lieberman
said. "Although the previous administration was vocal about its wishes to
protect the 'homeland,' its scope was limited to only kinetic attacks. The move
by this administration to finally address cyber-attacks is a welcome evolution
and a sign that this administration 'gets it' from a technological
perspective."

Lieberman said existing laws and legal precedents leave
the United States vulnerable to repeated cyber-attacks.

"The U.S. government intelligence agencies and military have been
prepared to defend the U.S.A. from cyber-attack for the last 20 years, but the previous
administration was clueless when it came to technology and science,"
Lieberman said. "So, as a result, those that were capable of defending us
were kept on the sidelines while we are being attacked."